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Article: The jurisprudence of the PLRA: inmates as "outsiders" and the countermajoritarian difficulty.(Prison Litigation Reform Act)
- Article from:
- Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
- Article date:
- September 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Northwestern University, School of Law. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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"[J]udicial intervention is indispensable if constitutional dictates--not to mention considerations of basic humanity-are to be observed in the prisons." (1)
"[The federal courts are] havens of refuge for those who might otherwise suffer because they are helpless, weak, outnumbered, or because they are non-conforming victims of prejudice and public excitement." (2)
I. INTRODUCTION
In Harris v. Fleming, (3) the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals spoke for many federal courts when it observed that "[j]udges are not wardens, but we must act as wardens to the limited extent that unconstitutional prison conditions force us to intervene when those ...